Nifty Gifty

I'm still on my cable odyssey. I switched off the book and onto real projects, and I'm still learning. I'm getting it though. I had a skein of something called "Poems" which I really like! So I pulled a pattern off of ravelry for a bulky skull cap that had some simple cables. You start at the brim and work to the crown, but even though I upsized the needles it still turned out teensy! I decided to pull through stitches along the brim and add a ribbing, but the join was ugly. So I got some pink wool and crocheted over the join with a beginning and end tail to tie in a bow. I took what was left of the skein and cast on my beloved bulky in groups of four, separated by one needle out of work. Every other four I did a two stitch cable, all in the same direction, to imitate the cable on the hat. Well, it was just beautiful, although very tedious! It would help a lot if I had the right tools! I have one transfer tool that is a 3/1 and I have a 7 standard adjustable, so I put up 1 and 3 and locked everything else down. It's an old Royal tool, and pretty cheap--I kept waiting for it to break off, but it held thank goodness! (I may have to invest in some Bond tools, still available and at the same spacing as my machine.) The out of work needle gave me the leeway I needed to stretch the stitches. I also had read of a trick that worked like a charm, which is to pull the needles out so the stitches are past the latch before knitting the row. See, all this reading is actually doing some good! Anyway, I did the same little crochet trim and join and put on a skinny strap and it was pretty cute if I do say so myself. Ashley's friend had a tonsillectomy so this is her get well gift. Love Ashley's model pose, don't you?